Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they)
...that last one is so freakishly similar to a world I've been building for a series of short stories that I'm sorely tempted to just start raving about that, even though it has no connection to RPGs. <_<
The Revolution Will Not Be Tropeable
Anime Disco Inferno
I had an idea of a crossover of D&D races, magic, and creatures with Sons Of Anarchy, having seen an incomplete proposal of that on the D&D Wiki, I wish to complete the idea and run it as a campaign, I just need to work in modern weapons and technology.
Forgot to add some bits to the Proto Races, specifically under the bit about how the different races can't interbreed.
Anyone else?
Nine thousand nine hundred eighty-two reasons.
So, I think this is a thread that will see a fair amount of Necromancy due to its nature, so allow me to be the first to laugh maniacally to the backdrop of a thunderstorm. Either that or it's just going to stay dead and its conversations will move back to the main D&D thread. Anyway, the post:
I started making a new D&D setting, for use at some future point. Unlike the other settings I've made, I started with the origin of the planar system first and so far I've got a lot of the cosmology done. 3.5's default is the template I'm varying from. The planes are set up in rings orbiting around the Material Plane, with the Astral Plane being a shell around all the rings while also bordering on all of them. Geometry of the planes is weird sometimes. Every plane save the Material one is home to a god; the Gods of Light, Shadow, Fire, Wind, Water and Earth are all True Neutral.
The first ring is composed of the Planes of Light* and Shadow, which are also visible from the Material plane as the Sun and a moon, respectively. They are directly opposite each other and travel in the same orbital path, in what we'll arbitrarily call clockwise (for comparison purposes). Their orbits, of course, cause the day/night cycle, which is still a 24 hour day, but it is evenly split between day and night.
The second ring is composed of the Elemental Planes of Fire, Wind, Water and Earth, orbiting further out then the first ring in a counterclockwise direction. Their orbit is much slower, taking 480 days to make a full revolution. Their orbit causes the seasons, as their proximity causes effects in the weather leading to the equivalents of Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring. They appear in the sky similar as planets do in ours.
The third ring is composed of eight planes, each the domain of a god that represents an alignment, other than True Neutral. They orbit in a clockwise direction, and complete a revolution in 320 days. These planes appear in the night sky as constellations, and are used as a basis for an eight-month calendar, with all the months being exactly forty days long and made of five eight-day weeks.
The fourth ring is a chaotic arrangement of planes of other gods, which appear as particularly bright stars against the backdrop of the Astral plane, though not forming meaningful shapes like the third ring. I haven't ironed out how many planes there will be in this ring quite yet.
I liked how I was able to derive a reason for days, nights, months, seasons and years that not only worked within the cosmology but seemed like it would emerge from it, not just shoehorned into it. The specific amount of days in a month, year or week might change at some point, depending on what cycle I wind up assigning to the days in a week- at the moment its the same as that of the months. Note, three "astrological" years is the same amount of time as two seasonal years.
Mostly does better things now. Key word mostly. Writes things, but you'll never find them. Or you can ask.
There are two principle deities within an area (a nation, a continent, a whole world). To her followers, the first is the Holy Goddess Of Light and, to her enemies, she is the Evil Goddess Of Chaos. She is the goddess of Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!, the Well-Intentioned Extremist, the Knight Templar and Honor Before Reason. To his followers, the next is the Holy God Of Order and, to his enemies, the Evil God Of Darkness. He is the god of the Pragmatic Hero, the Obstructive Bureaucrat, the Straw Vulcan, the Knight in Sour Armor and the man who says "I Did What I Had to Do". Those outside either groups call them the Goddess Of Emotion and the God Of Logic.
Some societies hate one and love the other, some love both, some hate both
edited 18th Dec '14 10:56:40 PM by God_of_Awesome
It's a common conceit that particularly heroic (YMMV there) mortals can ascend to godhood with enough worship, upon their death or as opposed to dying.
As a precursor to their ascension, in mortal life these heroes (or "heroes") will already show signs of their divinity, but in ways that aren't immediately apparent. Not apparent, but dramatically appropriate. The weather will reflect their mood or their circumstances, the sun will always be at the right angle to give them that heavenly back lighting or conversely shadows will seem deeper and more ominous around them. Fate will conspire to make sure their last conflict is an epic conflict, or they're the blessed martyr of horrific treachery, some loyal follower walking in just too late to save them but just in time to witness the terrible crime.
In this setting, if you hear a story about them or see a painting that depicts this god's mortal life and it seems to dramatic to be true, then there's a good chance that's actually how it happened.
Indiana Solo
Any good ideas for cave systems? Gonna throw my party into some cases with troglodytes soon. Got some plans laid out but suggestions would be appreciated
I'm baaaaaaack
Try the main D&D thread.
Ummm... I didn't really make up the setting on my own, but used Pathfinder and 3.5 rules to base it on.
In my campaign setting, large-scale colonization of the planes by mortals began 3000 years ago, after the ending of the Aśas wars (The Wishing Wars) between the various Genies, the dragons, the fae, celestials and internals, and Gaia. In the course of the wars, each of them Wished (in my campaign, the spell Wish is outlawed for player use unless the spell casters are genie-descended, and on a case-by-case basis for Miracle) for victory in battle, or for misfortune to befall their enemies... Inadvertently creating the greatest evils the planes had ever seen, and almost destroying the societies of the inner planes..
That is, until those meddling mortals broke the barriers of the material plane and came crashing through to the elemental planes, not caring about any silly wars fought by beings outside their ken. The mortals were, individually, quite weak,... But the genies witnessed groups of mortals growing in power to points beyond anything they had believed possible, undertaking feats the genie would have balked at taking on without their Wishes. The mutual belief was that the open warfare HAD to end, and a treaty was signed that led to the formation of the Nine-Fold Court. No planar society may commit open warfare against any other plane, but the mortals never signed any treaty.
Since then, it has become common practice for a promising group of mortals to be brought into the fold and sent forth on quests in the Nine Fold Court's interests, oftentimes a single errand for each court, and, in exchange for their service, the mortal group will be granted a single Wish.
As far as the actual planes go, we've got Fire, water, earth, and air for each genie type. The celestials and internals constantly squabble over the Elemental Plane of Energy (parts of which are positive, and parts are negative, but neither are particularly habitable). The fae dwell in Summerland, and the dragons and Gaian (think a society of Awakened dinosaurs) courts live in relative harmony in the Beastlands. Currently, planar currency is based around fractions of a wish (a full-fledged wish is often said to be the equivalent of 823,543 pieces of planar currency).
Each plane has their own specific weird traits that I think will make it quite amusing to watch them make their way around.
Feminist in the streets, sex slave in the sheets
More, tell me more. How else is this different from default Planescape? Was it always different that way or did it become that because of all the stuff?
Tell more about each faction. Nine Courts? Infernal and Celestial, no Abyssal?
First of all, I had a problem with the way that the planes worked in Planescape. It made things simultaneously TOO difficult... and not difficult enough. For instance, in the Elemental Plane of Water, you had subjective directional gravity... There was no point in having to swim anywhere. You could just fall wherever you wanted. Same goes with the plane of Air. Soooooo, I guess I'll split this up into a couple of different posts, starting with the plane of water and a few quick facts about the Planes here. Some ideas I got from 3rd party stuff, others from myself. Planar societies have always existed (for certain definitions of "always") and have been interacting and destroying each other for similarly huge amounts of time, the current ones are just the current incarnations in a long, long line.
Quick remark on the Planes: There are only six greater planes. Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Positive energy, and Negative energy. We aren't using any quasi-elemtal or para-elemental planes; there are simply places where the planes happen to interact, bits and pieces of each bleeding through. Though there ARE a theoretically infinite number or spatially finite demi-planes, the biggest problem is finding them or making them in a useful manner (more on that later). Astral and shadow are interlaced between all the planes, and are incredibly weird.
Interactions between the planes: At certain points on each plane, a bit of another plane (or planes) may poke through, forming the places that are, ya' know, actually interesting. Depending on how this goes, the results may be amazing or terrifying. For instance, leaks from the plane of earth or air often form the basis for livable areas on other planes. There are also places known as wells or sources where it seems the "substance" of each plane seems to come from, and sinks where it seems to be drawn in and disappear. More on all that stuff later.
As for now: The Elemental Plane of Water, home of the Marid court.
The elemental plane of water had a big goof in giving it subjective gravity, so there's been a few changes. First; the elemental plane of water has grouped itself into many different seas (similar to how you have the occasional "underwater lakes" except magical, because screw you) that may have any number of different characteristics, and gravity tends to fall inward toward the center of the sea. The divisions between seas aren't very clear-cut, they naturally intermix until at one point it's more like one than the other. One sea may be the clearest, purest fresh water, while another may be acidic. Mechanically, this is just me deciding it's whatever amuses me.
Visibility on the plane of water is no more than 60 feet in most seas, due to the interactions with the plane of earth or fire loaning particulates to the water, blocking even darkvision (not usually needed, since most areas are lit about as well as tropical shallows would be on earth). Loud noises on the plane of water, however, can travel very far and be much louder than on other planes. In seas where life is especially common, the noise can be truly intense.
Water is by far the most livable plane, since the water, particulates, and light allows for plants to grow in most areas, and this allows other forms of aquatic life to exist. Sharks, fish, cephalopods, etc. are all comparitively common (having been brought over by genies who visited the prime material over the eons). There are even places where coral reefs grow in spectacular arrangements.
Interactions between the plane of water and other planes are usually nice places to visit. Stable interactions with the plane of Air give those non-water breathers that inhabit the plane places to settle (Or highly toxic gases that kill those unlucky enough to try and get there). Fire leechings tend to be... you guessed it, hot water. Not much there. More powerful ones may boil the seas around them. Earth leechings depend on a lot of factors. If it's got water-soluble chemicals in it, it may change the entire makeup of the sea that it's in. Most of the time, however, they give nice places to build or places for coral reefs to grow. Sources on the plane of water are gigantic out-rushings of water that can destroy entire seas as they form, and move, and disappear. Sinks are even more violent, sucking in water and light from all around them. The good thing is that sinks are easy to spot. If you feel a light current and see a red glow from the direction it's going in... run the other way. Getting within 100 feet of a water sink will cause any water-based life to lose 10d6 worth of damage per round no save as the water tries to leave their body.
There is a surprising amount of settlement on the plane of water, and quite a few empires that aren't the Marid (ones who couldn't Wish, and didn't sign the Accords). There's a few led by aboleths, sahuagin, aquatic elves, sea trolls, etc. Overall, the plane of water is a pretty hip and happening place.
edited 25th May '14 6:58:41 AM by Poisonarrow
Feminist in the streets, sex slave in the sheets
Centuries ago, the continent of Hom was ruled by the Sorceror Kings and the Priest-Gods whose vast magical powers allowed them to rule entire countries, sometimes with iron fists, and sometimes with light yokes. From time to time, they made war upon one another, scarring the earth and melting the sky with their battles, and slaughtering thousands of each other's troops.
But then came the Reckoning. Half the continent was at war, and the clashing mystic forces combined in a way never before seen and grew out of anyone's control. Chaosquakes, firenados, plutonium dragons, dogs and cats lying together, it was all madness and growing worse.
The surviving Priest-Gods and Sorceror Kings put aside their differences for a mass ritual to save as much as they could. It was beyond their ability to affect the magical disaster itself, but one section of Hom was still relatively unaffected. So the gathered powers sacrificed themselves to raise a ring of mighty mountains, so tall their peaks were in the clouds, that the forces of the magic storm broke against.
But all was not safe in the Safelands. Many monsters had gotten into the area before the mountains were raised. Also, there was one pass through the mountains, about a mile wide at the far end, through which more monstrosities were coming. So it was up to the heroes of the Safelands (many of whom had been villains not three years before) to deal with the monsters, push them back through the Pass of Doom and seal the entrance with mass fortifications.
The Wall Mountains kept the Safelands from being destroyed, but the days of mighty magics were over. Many wizards, clerics and mystics of all stripes were slaughtered by mobs who never wanted to have such a thing happen again, and much arcane knowledge was lost to the flames of "reformers."
To be continued....
There are relatively few monsters in the Safelands, which in total are about the size of Australia compared to Hom being about the size of Asia. Anything big and showy got exterminated centuries ago.
Doom Fort, the fortifications protecting the Pass of Doom, were for a long time the place where heroes went to do battle with the forces trying to get into the Safelands. But over many years, the chaotic weather and wild magic ravaging the majority of Hom began to subside. Attacks became fewer, and less powerful. As the weather became more stable, the reason attacks had died down became more evident.
The Wall Mountains were placed in such a way that they created a "rain shadow." On the Safelands side of the mountains, rains were frequent and water was abundant. On the other side, the land had become dry, broken steppes. Most of the beings now inhabiting Hom had moved to parts of the continent that were more hospitable, it seemed, leaving only the weaker tribes that could handle a nomadic lifestyle, and a few major predators.
Over the last century, parties of adventurers have been allowed out of Fort Doom to scout the steppes, and learn what the land now holds. In addition, there have been expeditions to places that once held nearby cities, in hopes of recovering any treasure that might have survived the centuries. This is where the player characters come in.
Any more, Poisonarrow?
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
So what classes would be available in this setting?
I am thinking most standard classes are available—while magic users and clerics are distrusted by the general population of the Safelands, as is anyone with magical powers, they do exist. What is right out is most of the magic-based prestige classes. The special knowledge required for them is either lost or will get you killed if the public knows about it. In compensation, the Safelands really push the various types of non-magic warriors and non-stealing rogues.
The steppe nomads, having had to live in the wild magic areas so long, are much more comfortable with mystic types. A blooded sorceror or a shaman could be the difference between life and death out there. The nomads are mostly goblinoid races, although a few tribes are indistinguishable from humans.
There are the most Elder Sky Gods, the God of the Sun, the Goddess of the Moon and the God-Things of the Stars. From them were born the Old Earth Gods, of the soil, the sea, the sky, fire, forests, mountains and all those many thing. From them were born beasts and mortal-kind.
And now, from them, were born the New Ethereal Gods. Gods of concepts, such as love and war, hunger and prosperity, and their children of more specific concepts such as romance and genocide, theft and commerce, onwards and upwards.
The Sky Gods and Earth Gods, with their own agendas and credos, are worshiped, venerated as the creators they are. The Ethereal Gods are observed, nurtured alongside the concepts they represent.
They first come into being when cult form together to nail down a concept and give it a name, performing a ritual to conjure it from the ether. If the total thought of this concept has enough weight not already claimed by another god, it will collapse like cosmic dust. A new god will flare like a new born star, under the interested hand of its faithful cult.
edited 7th Oct '14 4:00:17 AM by God_of_Awesome
Good And Evil
Philosophers dictate that within nearly all people, humanoids, exists a balance between good and evil. There is conscious and empathy, a capacity for charity and sacrifice, that exists in nearly all people. Aslo there is desire and greed, a capacity for cruelty and sadism. It too exists in nearly everyone. To be without one half or the other is nearly anathema. It indicates a warped mind, one either born malformed, incomplete, or broken by some event. This applies to either those who have cast off good or evil.
Being lawful or chaotic, now that's easy. It's very vague, but that only seems to make it easier. Being good or evil though is exceptional. Nearly everyone who proves to be good is gathered up by the local god of pure good. The followers of this deity are many but their clergy is few. People like a god of absolute goodness, oh yes, but very, very few are capable of living up to its standards. Those who do, who wear its badge, are considered other.
Yes, people will be be afraid of you. In awe, respectful, worshiping, but not everyone trusts you. You are warped, broken or incomplete, no longer or never were like them. You are without a piece of yourself that makes you essentially mortal.
Back after a long hiatus
I recall posting this in the general D&D thread a while back, but this is a far more appropriate place. This doesn't really belong in any one edition, but is probably more 4e than anything.
This is less a world and more a continent. Said continent has been recently discovered, and adventurers and other hopefuls are flocking to it by the hundreds, hoping to get lucky in this newish world.
I say newish because there are, in fact, people living there. Indeed, they've managed to create civilizations to rival anything the "old world" has to offer. There are even ruins from previous civilizations, which show a very advanced understanding of magic even for the present day. Settlers are already revitalizing some old ruins, including the only major non-native city, the port of Harapa. In addition, the continent appears to be shaped too symmetrically for it to be entirely natural - it's shaped almost exactly like a rectangle with the sides pinched in. The sand is too uniform, the rock layers too neat. Even some of the natives have a disturbing look about them, like they're too symmetrical. In addition, all four major native cities are on their own corner of the rectangle, and all four have an odd geographical formation nearby that, to some extent, characterizes the city. And that's not even getting into the giant tower in the middle.
The center of the continent is a wasteland, not even cacti to break the monotony. And in the center of the center is a massive metal tower. It looks to be composed of every metal in the world, and a few alien to it. In addition, the tower is a perfect cylinder until about halfway up, where it bulges drastically in the shape of a disk. It then shrinks to about half its original circumference, then goes back to its normal width several feet later. The inside is ringed by balconies, save for the ground floor, and there are doors interspersed throughout at regular intervals. If one looks up from inside the tower, it appears to cut off far earlier than it should. This is, in fact, the "bulge floor". The doors lead to metal rooms that are perfect cubes, 10x10x10. Some are obviously kitchens, some are storage areas, some are bedrooms (with bunk beds lining every available wall space) and some are a mystery. But all the rooms look like the occupants never left; fresh food and clean utensils in the kitchen, everything in the storage rooms packed and organized, the bedsheets made and even a bit fancy-looking. If you, say, eat an apple from a kitchen, if you go back the next day, another one will be there. Sleep in a bed, wake up, leave the room, walk back in, beds are all made, with clean sheets, fresh pillows and everything. Strangely, this doesn't apply to the storage area (although if you force the lock on one of the chests, it'll be fixed again by the next day), nor does it apply if you eat something from the tower outside of the tower. Oh, and there are monsters. Each floor is home to a different kind of creature, ranging from the mundane, like goblins and kobolds, to the strange, like water elementals and devourers. There are also stairs leading from balcony to balcony, though the monsters on each floor apparently can't use them. The ground floor was apparently home to various small dire animals, hardly a threat. Adventurers have now moved into the ground floor, setting up a kind of hotel/general store for those who have braved the desert to get a chance at unraveling the mystery of the tower.
edited 11th Feb '15 8:21:25 PM by Tojin
“Not a promise, not an oath, or a malediction or a curse. Inevitable." - Taylor Hebert
Cyber Judas
A setting for Big Eyes, Small Mouth that's magical girl themed, and the main antagonist is a Fallen Hero magical girl named the Queen of Hearts (yeah, I love Alice Allusions.) I am probably, if everything works out, streaming this live sometime next month.
Morphenomenal!
I had an idea (not really an idea, more of a thought) for a Middle Earth-esque land where the Dark Lord won... kinda. They sack and burn Not!Gondor, and proceed to march across the face of the earth, and then just... peter out. It turns out that Dystopia Is Hard, those hordes of orcs need to eat, the Southrons and Haradrim want their share of the loot-
A hundred years later and the armies of darkness have fragmented into petty Orc kingdoms squabbling with each other, the Southrons have had a French Revolution of sorts and are hunting down and purging all of the old noble lines and magicians in general, and the Dark Lord has disappeared. The elves and dwarves and halflings and humans are either slaves or rebels or second class citizens, but are no longer the dominant powers in Middle Earth. And there's a strange bunch of un-orcy orcs in the west, proclaiming themselves wielders of the Secret Fire and lead by a Joan D'Orc preparing to fight their old master when he returns.
That there is a seal.
I had an idea for a D&D pantheon. It goes like this.
There are the Gods of the People, and the Old Gods. The Gods of the People are friendly, kind, and teach the people not to fear. The god of journeys, the wilderness, and trickery may make you trip occasionally as a joke, but will always eventually lead you to your goals; the god of peace and agriculture will keep you safe, warm, and fed; the goddess of night and magic teaches that the dark is nothing to fear; the god of the sun and storms watches over you your whole life; the god of war, honor, and camaraderie protects you in battle and binds friends together; the god of knowledge and craft leads you as you forge boldly ahead into innovation; and the Queen of the Underworld makes you welcome even upon death. (No, none of them have names; yes, they would have names in-universe. I'm just not good at naming things.)
But they are not the only gods. The Old Gods, whose statues and altars litter the ruins of the Old Empires, are a different story. Ask anyone. They can tell you of the God of the Lost, who leads travelers to a grim fate; the Goblin, patron of cruel little bastards of all species; the Mad God, the Dreaming One, whose warped nightmares drive folk mad; the Warbringer, whose cruelty is unimaginable; the Desert King, a grim reminder that Light Is Not Good; the Toymaker, whose demented inventions do nothing but bring pain; and the Nameless One, who rules over the darkest Things That Man Is Not Meant To Know. (These are supposed to not have proper names.)
What they won't tell you, for they do not know, is that the Old Gods weren't always like this. These beings may or may not actually be the same gods of the Old Empires, but if they are they've become twisted beyond recognition. The God of the Lost was once much like the People's God of journeys; the Goblin was a friendly, if ugly, fellow, who frightened away evil; the Mad God once ruled all dreams and imagination, not just nightmares; the Warbringer was once a fierce protector of cities; the Desert King... okay, the Desert King was always kind of a jerk; the Toymaker was once simply the god of progress and invention; and the Nameless One was once the neutral god of knowledge and passage to the afterlife. What happened, you ask? The People saw the idols, the statues, the altars, and knew them not. And unfamiliarity breeds fear. With their fear, the Old Gods were either changed, or their positions were taken over by other gods.
And of course, the Old Empires had their own fears, their own gods of evil. Maybe they, too, were just misinterpretations of even older gods. But these Horrors, worshipped by none and known by few, still lurk somewhere, not proper gods anymore, but still out there, driven by nothing but hatred for all sentient life. Or maybe - just maybe - they only want their long-dead worshippers back.
Data is imaginary. This burrito is real.
I have a perpetually half-finished concept for a D&D world that takes the Barrier Peaks / Iron Gods "crashed spaceships" thing and just runs with it hardcore.
International Man of Mystery
I had an idea for a Sword and Sorcery setting, that was mainly inspired by Conan the Barbarian's Hyborian Age, as well as Icewind Dale. The gist of it was that it is now centuries after the fall of a great empire, where elves and half-elves had ruled as divinely ordained nobility over regular humans. Full-blood elves are extinct by now, but some measure of elven blood can still afford status, which is a driving force between the various small successor-kingdoms trying to reunite the old empire. Unfortunately, the half-elven royals can't agree upon whose lineage will rule in the future. Elven Magitek is also highly valuable, as knowledge of ancient machines and magic tomes can give power even to wizards with no elven heritage whatsoever.
Unknown to most people, the fall of the empire was only the latest catastrophe to befall the elves, who had an even greater empire before the one that shattered. Elves used to not mix with humans at all, mainly because while they were at the top of their game, we were still Frazetta Men at best. Long story short, they delved into Things Man Was Not Meant to Know and caused their Magitek paradise to be destroyed, resulting in a supernatural nuclear winter, where some places have very weak borders between dimensions. This includes the many ancient elven ruins that adventurers venture into, in the hopes of getting something a wizard will pay handsomely for.
At present time, some of the greater kingdoms are becoming powerful enough to colonize lands far removed from the old empire's heartland, such as the far northern tundra of Thule. Thule is a harsh land inhabited by barbarians
, cavemen, goblins, snow-apes, Pleistocene Megafauna, and so on. But still there is a strong drive for colonization and the establishment of trade routes, because in Thule there are plenty of mineral riches, furs to trade in, as well as elven ruins previously unexplored by people.
Edited by Mara999 on Apr 8th 2021 at 9:10:14 PM
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Conceptual Gods
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No Gods
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Proto Races
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Broken Pantheon
edited 18th Jan '14 9:35:55 AM by God_of_Awesome